San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 678-681
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 10/13/2009
ROBERT BOYCE
An honored pioneer citizen of San Joaquin County, who contributed generously to the county's development during a residence of fifty-five years. Robert Boyce was born in a rural district of Richland County, Ohio, on July 6, 1847, the son of Jonathan and Nancy (Jump) Boyce, natives respectively of England and West Virginia. When a young man, Jonathan Boyce came out to America and westward to Ohio, with his parents, where they settled in Richland County, and he followed agricultural pursuits. In the year 1859 he crossed the great plains with his family, making the long and tedious journey to California in an ox-team train, and on his arrival in San Joaquin County, he located at Woodbridge. A true type of the wide-awake and progressive California pioneer, he saw the value of the virginal land spreading out before him, and set to work to clear and improve some of it; and because he understood the possibilities of the soil, and was, all in all, a good farmer, he succeeded in raising fine crops, and prospered, and steadily added to his holdings,—a circumstance of double import, for others witnessed his success and were stimulated to follow his example. Mr. Boyce and his devoted wife passed away at the old farm homestead, esteemed and honored by all who knew them.
Robert Boyce, the fourth of their six children, spent his early boyhood on the Boyce farm in Ohio, but in 1859, when he was twelve years old, he accompanied his parents across the continent to Woodbridge, in San Joaquin County. There he attended the public schools and completed his schooling. He remained on his father's ranch until he was twenty-four, and then, in 1871, he purchased the adjoining 160 acres. He farmed this tract to grain, and through the best of care and most scientific cultivation, he coaxed from the soil the highest yield. In 1882, he purchased another tract of 160 acres opposite his home-place; and after farming to grain for many years, he concluded to try viticulture. He therefore experimented, in 1890, by planting thirty-three acres to a vineyard, and the effort proved so successful in every way that in 1900 he set out sixty acres more. He was an early shipper of grapes, and built a house on his ranch especially for packing his products; and continuing to give unwearied attention to the problems of cultivation, he brought the properties into full bearing. In 1910, he removed to Lodi, where he erected a comfortable home from which he superintended his ranch; but he was not destined long to enjoy these domestic comforts, passing away on March 17, 1914. For many years a member of the Knights of Pythias, he was affiliated with the Woodbridge lodge; and he not only enjoyed an enviable popularity among his fraternal associates, but he occupied a high place in the esteem of the community, in which he had lived and labored for so many years, and in whose welfare he had always felt the keenest interest.
On March 3, 1872, Robert Boyce was married near Lodi to Miss Lorah K. Turner, a native of Plaquemine, near Baton Rouge, La., and the daughter of Frank and Victorine (Robicheaud) Turner—the former a native of Missouri, descended from an old and long-honored South Carolina family, and the latter a native of Louisiana, gracefully representing an old family there of most interesting French descent. Mr. Turner crossed the great plains to California in 1852, and for four years mined in Placerville, when he returned East for his wife and two children, whom he brought out to the Coast in 1856, by way of the Isthmus of Panama. At Woodbridge he located on 160 acres, which he in many ways improved. Mrs. Turner passed away in California, but her devoted husband spent his last days in Louisiana. He was for many years a trustee of the Turner School district, and was decidedly a strong, friendly advocate of popular education; and was also a member of the Masonic Lodge, in highest standing. Mr. and Mrs. Boyce were blessed with two children: Lorah, the wife of Chas. McConnell, passed away, in 1911, leaving three children; Martha D., is the wife of Major Walter E. Garrison, and they have two daughters.
Since her lamented husband's death, Mrs. Boyce has continued to make her home at 303 West Elm street, Lodi, and to take an active part in community work, being a member of the Lodi Woman's Club, and maintaining a very live interest in civic and social affairs. While not a member of any church, she is nevertheless a true Christian in spirit and in deed, and believes in doing all the good she can, especially in matters of unostentatious charity. She still retains the large ranch lands left her by her husband, and in 1919 she had an additional eighty acres of the old home ranch planted to Tokay grapes. Mrs. Boyce has been privileged to witness the most wonderful transformations effected in California during her long residence and she can recount many interesting stories of early days. She well remembers, for example, her trip to the Golden Gate from New Orleans, by way of Aspinwall, and then across the Isthmus to Panama, when they took passage on the steamer Golden Gate, and landed in San Francisco in January, 1856. San Joaquin County was then unsettled, Texas cattle roamed wild everywhere, and settlers were few and far between. But each year showed a steady influx, and thanks to the path-breaking labors of such pioneers as Mr. and Mrs. Boyce, the forests were felled, the land cleared, and the desert was made to blossom as the rose.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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